Yes..this was what those two strange young gentlemen had to tell me when I met them on road. Revisiting the incidents as it happened..I had just reached home after attending the CRY meeting when my dad asked me if I could go to the post office to open a Savings Account. I don't know why but today I decided to go walking instead of taking my bike - post office being just 5 minutes walk from my home. After sending about half an hour there for a five minutes job; thanks to the eternal "taking for granted" service of the public sector enterprise, I was returning home. Two young guys probably of my age walked up to me and asked
"Are you interested for free screening of a movie"
Surprise !!! They handed over a pamphlet to me, a glance at it and I was sure it was a Christian movie and I asked them
"Where is it being screened?"
They told me some place near COX town junction but I politely declined stating that I have exams tomorrow and that I would like to prepare for the same. When I thought all ended there, one of the guy asked my name. I introduced myself and shook hands with both of them. One name struck me, he said
"I am Rahul".
Agenda was clear - Conversion. The other lad whose name I cannot recollect asked me
"Have you ever lied?".
"Yes".
"Have you ever stolen things ?".
"Yes"
I replied affirmatively considering the little stealing which I did in childhood - biscuits, chocolates hiding from the eagle eyes of parents and even the incident when I took few audio cassettes without telling anybody at home to share with my friends. He interrupted my flashback with the next
"Ever shown lust for women?"
"No"
I could see the disappointment in his eyes, he lost a very valid point to argue. But he continued.
"What would you be if you die today?"
"I would die as a very happy person."
"No my question was what after this life?"
"I would take another birth as when I die only this body dies,perishes and I am not this body"
"Will you go to Heaven or Hell"
"Brother, heaven or hell is on this earth only. It is how we make out of it?"
With a trace of disappointment in his face, he asked
"Don't you think this lying stealing etc are sins ?"
"Yes".
Yes they are however small, insignificant, inconsequential. Pat came his question
"How do you think you can compensate for these sins"..
"These small sins I did long before and since then I have done a lot of charity and good deeds, definitely not to compensate for the sins but yes I believe I have done and will continue doing".
"That notion is wrong. To believe that you can undo your sins in the past by your deeds in the present is wrong."How correct? I thought. Many times this happens to us. we do think so. It is primarily because we sin and we ourselves pass the judgement and decide what needs to be done.
"God does not measure our sins the way we do and there is only one way to redeem yourself; it is with the Blood Of Jesus. It is said in Bible too. "
All this time Rahul was silent. Just looking at each of us while we were talking as if watching a tennis match.
"I disagree. I too believe in Jesus but I believe in Krishna and Allah in the same way and I think each religion tries to achieve the same though paths are different."
"See" he tried to explain. "All this are delusions created by people. There in only one God and that is Jesus. Only he is the Saviour. He took birth on this earth as a human being only to be crucified for mistakes done by all others and it is said in Bible that only by accepting this blood that He shed and taking refugee with him that one can compensate for all his sins. Only God can undo sins done by man and not man himself and it is said in Bible only holy blood can wash away the sins. You can have a peaceful mind only if you submit yourself to Jesus"
"Friend, I agree. God and only God can set off our crimes, it is only he who can forgive us. But to say that if only I accept Jesus and only Jesus and that Jesus alone is God is a mistake to which I cannot agree"
Here, Rahul started
"Let me please share my experience. I am Rahul Anantharaman. I was a hindu, in fact a hindu brahmin. I was never happy. I always had complaints with myself, with system. I used to be part of all rituals, whatever my parents said. But I always used to shout at them. Though I had many 'friends' I was always lonely. I was jealous, envious and angry. I had my schooling in a Christian school and even my plus two. But all this time I has never thought of Christ; in fact not even about sins I was doing. But all this changed when I met a guy during my college days. He was so happy, so contended with himself and life. I asked him and he replied that he too was like me only earlier and had done even some things which I could never see even in wildest of my dreams. But then all changed as He came in touch with Jesus, once he started interacting with Jesus."
Rahul continued.
"This took me by surprise and now after accepting Jesus even I feel the same peace in my life. Now I show more respect to my parents and my friends and family have started seeing the change. Hence, my parents did not stop me from embracing Jesus. Any sin done by us is like a in blot on a white paper and we can do nothing to remove that. Only Jesus can"
He stopped as if he was looking for a feedback
"Rahul, see I understand you point and also that you have seen a sea change after you met that guy and embraced Jesus, but I am contended with my religion and its rituals and practices"
The other guy interrupted ..
"See but Jesus is the only God all else are stories created by misguided people and we should accept this truth"
"I see God in all living and non-living things, in you, in him and in myself too. We all are part of that Parabrahmam, we all are subsets of Him"
Rahul pointed out
"Even in Bhagavad Gita, Krishnan says it is only by shedding blood that sins can be erased and this blood in not impure blood but pure blood and that is what Jesus did. Even Samaveda has said that God will take birth on this earth as a human being and die accepting sins of all people on the earth."
"Rahul, tell me was it Vedas that were written first or Jesus came first".
No answer
"Rahul, you will accept Vedas came first and now you vouch that it is true. Do not use any Vedas according to your convenience. If you accept the Samaveda is true then accept all verses in it. I do not know, but I agree it is said in Samaveda that God will take birth and be crucified too but then the same Vedas speak about Brahma, Vishnu, Siva and parabrahmam. So just like you have accepted Bible is true and will not just use some verses in it, 'copy & paste' the same according to your convenience, take it out of context and twist its meaning, the same you cannot do with Vedas too. So it would be wrong now, for you to argue that Jesus in the only God"
Rahul was speechless and I could see his head hung down.
"Still I would say Jesus is the only God.." the other guy argued. I could feel a sense of disappointment in his voice as he was more or less certain that I could not be convinced.
"I agree Jesus is also God but then it would be wrong to say only He is God. Let your faith save you but then I am truly running out of time. It was really nice meeting you guys, have a great day"
I shook hands with them and we parted ways..
To be frank, I felt so happy. God gave me an opportunity to use the little knowledge I have gathered reading various religious books. Not that I could convince them to come back and embrace Hinduism (neither do I want them do it) but I felt satisfied. But I would have been happy to put to test my faith and learning, not to prove myself to anyone but to myself to reinforce that what I believe is true.
This blog has been pretty long but then incidents have given me few insights and post this incident when I shared this with my family members I got a few more points. So for now I stop and rest in next..
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